Buy Lemonade Jones' aka Tanya Reed's Music

Thursday, July 14, 2011

This marks the birth of a charitable partnership tour between UDIGG CARES INC. and Different Shoes Inc. The upcoming tour will be a cooperative effort encompassing various philanthropic events designed to address and heighten the awareness of Atlanta’s Homeless plight. In addition, it will provide practical action-oriented solutions and contributions with hopes of changing lives and ultimately affecting positive change within Atlanta’s neighborhoods and communities.
“I believe that in life we all have a personal obligation to help each other. Different Shoe Inc. is one of the vehicles that I use to carry out what I understand to be my life’s mission. Different Shoe Inc. is a non-profit organization (NPO) that focuses on community charitable contributions of new and used shoes coupled with exposing youth to the Arts. I am honored to partner with Big L” , says Tanya Reed, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Different Shoes Inc.
Big L expresses, “I have lots of friends and constituents that genuinely want to give. Some of my personal and business relationships can help embrace impoverished communities in a concerted effort to build bridges of help between those willing and able to give, and those in need. Through UDIGG CARES INC., the bridge that links the willing and able to the needy will be built.”

About Different Shoes Inc.
A nonprofit organization (NPO) with two focuses: procuring new and used shoes that are given to those in need, and delivering youth-based civic, social and educational enrichment through the cultural aesthetic of the arts.

Different Shoes Inc. provides two types of programs:
1) Youth and Urban Music Initiative (YUMI)
2) The Different Shoes Charity

YUMI: provides a vehicle for youth to create, document and share artistic ideas. Students are given the tools to assume responsibility and ownership for their individual and collective creative projects. YUMI focuses on the Atlanta youth through civic activism and the promotion of self-affirming messages in music and the arts.

Different Shoes Charity: provides Atlanta’s youth tangible and intangible support through workshops that facilitate self-esteem building, cultural unity and empathy. The Different Shoes Charity utilizes the “shoe” as a metaphor to represent individualized identity and the “path” as a symbol of shared experiences in life. Different Shoes Charity also procures new and used shoes and distributes them to those in need while providing relief support to victims of natural disasters and unforeseen life challenges.

Different Shoes Inc. obtains major donations from footwear companies, retailers, churches, nonprofit ministries, civic groups and schools, transferring the gained assets to people in desperate need of footwear.

About UDIGG CARES INC.
A philanthropic/charitable initiative established by Big L, CEO of UDIGG Records, to meet the shelter, food and clothing needs of the people in Atlanta’s impoverished communities and around the world.

Atlanta's local homeless Statistics

• The fastest growing group of homeless people is children under 9 years of age.
• Atlanta is the poorest city in the U.S. for children; more children in Atlanta live in poverty than in any other city.
• 48% of all the impoverished Atlanta children live in families with annual income of less than $15,000 a year.
• For children under age 6 living in female-headed families with no spouse present, the poverty rate is 58.8%.
• Children ages 6-17 living in female-headed families with no spouse present have poverty rate of 44.9%.
• Current welfare (TANF) benefits are $282 a month for a woman with two children. Could you find an apartment to rent on $282 a month?
• Fewer than 20% of those women and children living on welfare get any kind of housing subsidy.
• 98 million children in the U.S. have no health insurance. Eight million of those children without health insurance live in working families.
• Did you know that 40% - 60% of homeless people work?
• Minimum wage in Georgia is $5.85 per hour, which yields $12,168 per year, before taxes.
• HUD says you should pay no more than 30% of your income for your housing (30% of minimum wage yields $270/mo. for rent).
• The average two-bedroom apartment in Atlanta rents for $834/mo. (which is 30% of an annual income of $33,360 or hourly rate of $16+ per hour). Thus, you need to earn $16+ per hour to afford that apartment, according to HUD.
• 46% of the jobs with the most growth between 1994 and 2005 pay less than $16,000 a year.
• 40% of homeless men are veterans.
• The wealthiest nation on Earth has a wider gap between rich and poor than any other nation.
- Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless

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About Me

Tanya Reed aka “Lemonade Jones”
Tanya's richly cultivated voice captivates the souls of her listeners. Through the universal language of music, Tanya has found her redemption and mean of contributing to the positive evolution of our culture. Tanya’s time is now; emerging as a solo artist on the music scene 10 years as the premier jazz/ soul artist; she is taking the entertainment world by storm.